India beat Australia by 5 wickets

India beat Australia by five wickets to set-up a World Cup semi-final date with Pakistan.

Once again it was Yuvraj Singh, who charted India's win with an all-round performance against the Aussies at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, on Thursday.

First he returned with bowling figures of 10-0-44-2 and then scored an unbeaten 57 to help India beat the four-time World Cup champions in front of a packed Motera stadium.
India's Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina celebrate their win against Australia
Chasing 261, India got off to a good start with Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar putting 44 runs for the first wicket.

In the ninth over Shane Watson got the vital breakthrough scalping Virender Sehwag on 15. He wanted to play a pull but mistimed it towards Michael Hussey at square leg. India lost their first wicket on 44.

Soon, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir went on to forge a partnership.

Sachin crossed another milestone by scoring more than 18,000 runs in ODIs. But post his half-century, Tendulkar departed with Shaun Tait scalping him on the first ball of the 19th over. He fell for 53 and India lost their second wicket on 94/2.

A few minutes later, David Hussey claimed Virat Kohli with a full toss that was hit hard towards the mid-wicket region, but Michael Clarke ensured the ball didn't go any further. Kohli fell for 24 and India fell to 143/3 in the 29th over.

Post Kohli's fall, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh batted cautiously to thwart the Aussie plans. Gambhir went on to complete his half-century.

But Gambhir's innings came to a rather bizarre end when he got run out in the 34th after surviving two run out chances. An over earlier Ponting missed a chance and again Yuvraj and Gambhir got involved in a mix up, the two escaped only to see Gambhir walk back on the next ball on 50 with a run out against his name. India lost their fourth wicket on 168.

Then it was the turn of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to take a walk. He whacked the ball off Brett Lee but Michael Clarke took a blinder in the outfield and he perished on seven. India were 187/5 in 38 overs.

Finally Yuvraj Singh (57 not out) and Suresh Raina (34 not out) batted with gusto to see India home in the 48th over of the innings.

Australia innings

Earlier, Ricky Ponting scored his fifth World Cup century as Australia scored 260/6 in their stiuplated 50 overs.

Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. Not an unusual decision considering the nature of the wicket.

The wicket looked dry and there will be some turn in offer for the spinners. It was a good move by India captain MS Dhoni to give the ball to offie R Ashwin in the first over. And Ashwin did get the breakthrough albeit a bit late. On the last ball of the 10th over he scalped Shane Watson with his turner that crashed into his stumps. He fell for 25 and Aussies went down to 40/1.

Post that wicket, Brad Haddin and Ricky Ponting got on with a fine partnership to put 70 runs for the second wicket. Brad Haddin went on to score his fourth half-century in the World Cup, but he could not carry any further as Yuvraj Singh got the man India wanted.

Haddin went for a big hit off Yuvraj but failed to get the desired elevation and Suresh Raina took a fine catch to dismiss him on 53. Aussies lost their second wicket on 110/2.

Yuvraj, who is on a purple patch at the World Cup, came up with another vital breakthrough to send Aussie vice-captain Michael Clarke home. A top edge off Clarke's bat was taken by Zaheer Khan at mid-wicket. He departed for eight and Australia fell to 140/3 in the 31st over.

Then it was the turn of paceman Zaheer Khan to join the party and he did it by scalping Michael Hussey with his slower ball that pitched on the off and turned in a little to take the batsman's off stump. Australia lost their fourth wicket on 150.

Later, Zaheer struck back to send back Cameron White on 12 with a caught and bowled written against his name. And Aussies went down to 190/5 in 41.2 overs.

Towards the end of the innings, Ponting and David Hussey got on with a good partnership. They even took the Batting Powerplay to up the tempo in the 44th over. Ponting went on to complete his fifth World Cup and 30th ODI ton. Deep into the 49th over R Ashwin scalped Ponting on 104 with Zaheer Khan performing the final rites to reduce Australia to 245/6.

Finally, David Hussey and Mitchell Johnson added 15 runs for the seventh wicket to help Australia score 260/6 against India.

Source: http://bit.ly/gmkGKV

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